Track

'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore

Track

'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore

Complex, enigmatic and downright inscrutable in places, Blackstar is the work of a veteran art rocker hell-bent on tearing apart accepted notions of what the genre could and should sound like and rewriting them from the bottom up. The nearly 10-minute title cut is a sonic tour de force built from Bowie’s powerfully brooding vocals, blurred strings, vaporous horns and skittering beats that weave crisscrossing patterns. He exports the cut’s labyrinthine qualities to “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)” and the provocatively titled “’Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” each propelled by deliriously hypnotic, avant-funk grooves. It’s no hyperbole to declare Blackstar is Bowie’s most challenging album since the early ’80s.